Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff put out a piece on the website that talked about some of the major trade chips available this summer. There was one member of the Hurricanes organization on there. Tony DeAngelo. Not for the reasons we all suspected might arise at the start of the year, but Seravalli sights cap concerns as the reason Carolina’s premier offensive defenseman might be moved.
DeAngelo came to Carolina on a one-year “show me” deal after he was put into exile by the New York Rangers. During the summer, DeAngelo was bought out of his two-year deal with the hockey club, and Carolina took a flier on him hoping they could separate his talent from his off-ice baggage. Causing no known issues off the ice this year, he put up 10 goals and 41 assists for 51 points in 64 games. For a defenseman, that is solid production on the backend.
So, why move him? Well, he has arbitration rights. An independent arbitrator is unlikely to take his off-ice luggage into account when ruling on his contract details, and by all accounts, this is a defenseman that should be making $7 million or more a year. DeAngelo did talk about how grateful he was to be given another shot in the NHL and mentioned he was loyal, so perhaps he’ll take a discount to stay in Raleigh, but that’s not certain by any means.
Now, if the Hurricanes trade their pending RFA, things become interesting. Given that DeAngelo has already burned bridges with the Lightning, Coyotes, and Rangers organizations, there are only so many trade partners they could find to move the Sewell, New Jersey native. But in theory, there’s a lot they could get for him.
DeAngelo is one of the better puck-moving defensemen in the NHL so with the idea of moving him around, the return is interesting. Is it fair to suggest a first round pick and more? Going off his on-ice product, that’s going to be a starting point, not the entire package. But there’s everything off the ice with DeAngelo. If he’s still got those issues, his value comes down. If not, you could use him to get a solidified scorer.